Look for CASE Tools that Give More Bang for the Buck ther: feature coveted in a CASE tooriš the ability (o malnlain a single malo ae ability to generate 100 percent of desired traits for CASE tools. the code for an application from design Users recognize'tnat'ivs not enough to Many CASE tools boast flashy graphical interfaces and claim support for the entire life cycle. Others tout code-generation capabilities, support for reverse-engineering and project-management, facilities. 'To match the tool to the needs of your organization, look for something that will give you the most bang for the buck. As summarized in the figure, this is achieved by tools that address the fol- lowing criteria: € a graphics-style user interface; ' support for the entire life-cycle process; € the ability to generate 100 percent of application code; ' a single repository of design specifi- cations; € desktop code generation; € multiple code generators for COBOL, G, Ada, and so on; and € support for standards such as Struc- tured Guery Language (SOL) databases and IBM's AD/Cycle repository. Recent studies indicate that graphics- oriented analysis and design tools head the wish list of most CASE users. Defin- ing design specifications in a graphical form tends to be much more productive than older, text-oriented approaches. Code-generation capabilities and sup- port for the entire life-cycle process are corporate buyer preferences in a recent PC From our mainframe COBOL programming and maintenance tasks. And there's more .. COROLK2 Workheneh is a "superh interactive snviranmeni and 'professianally erafted," aecording to; receni product review, Only a small number of integrated CASE (I-CASE) tools on the market to- day meet this reguirement. Most prod- ucts still reguire programmers to con: vert design specifications into source code by hand, This is an expensive, la- bor-intensive and error-prone process that can be eliminated entirely through the use of I-CASE tools. John Avaklan incompatible design-informatlon reposi- tories—one associuled with (he front: end CASE tool and the other wllhi (he external code generator. Manual programming is typically re- guired to maintain consistency between ihe two repositortes. 'Flirovjyihi (ho usa of a slugle repository lo ueetnutitala donljta information and goorule ela, AH Week review. compatibility features to our easy-to-learn, function k i w m 1 h ey driven menu system, Micro Focus COBOL/2 lorkbench is "eguipped to support the experienced developer" making a transition from terminals se workstations for »Micro Focus belies COBOL's ane heritage wilh the artful design of the Workbench environment"... ; Re ee aje aje, the RAMATGA, lives up to its name with ice execution through li well as ihrough highlighted source code," ne me Y you or your organization want to improve programmer productivity, ications for new needs, or develop high lormance, easy lo maintain busine: icati s mainframes, give us a call Mea zaj spolcatone for PCs, LANS, or We seli "Better Way of Programming' solutions. re-engineer existing COBOL appli MICRO FOCUS: A Better Way of Programming" Micro Focus COBOL/2 Workbench?!M Is a Hit! Werre very proud o COBOL/2 Workbench, And we're very gratified at achieving a weighted score of 9.6 when measured against Call Micro Focus today at 1-800-872-6265 ana reguest a reprint of the entire PC Week review. tič i i si j rmalion, As dis- 1 i i U repository of designu informalion j [ stebel zm GL Ren Ma a prodati ke Uišči ii previdna columna, many non specifications on the o raKrI fo kp S sna it ; nate convert design integrated CASE (ools use a bridge to an atribute of CASE UE ja RJE bene JE nili inio [m En of the external code generalor to produce the importance among users, per v m ile corpora- ei ečeide oi object code reguired to source code for an application. This re- po KIE a ME YB aH H ni tions are rapidly run an application. sults in the creation of two potentially oni danO 000 ge ooo co0 Inrodiitio, MEŠANE these tools can be used to ij proto- - » applications on the PC that can tora, li bej CASE Tool bk be sioei to he user and iterated Sre HUD trma rapidly to develop production systems. ly difficult to dif 4 lis also important to look for tools ferentiate among that are capable of generatiug code in the offerings. multiple source languages, not just CO- BOL. It's likely that an increasing num- ber of CASE tool vendors will offer inte- grated tools that, can generate C code. Finally, compliance with standards is another important element in the selec- tion of CASE tools. Users should consid: er whether CASE offerings support in- dustry-standard SOL for shared data- base access, AD/Cycle for shared access to design information, common graphi- cal user interfaces to ensure a consistent Iook and feel for all applications, and compliance with communication stan- dards, including SNA-in the TBM envi- ronment and TCP/IP and OSI protocols in all environments. Next week I will discuss additional features to look for in order to get the maximum return from an investment in CASE technology. N The concepts embodied in this article are described in the CASE volume in The James Martin Report Series. For more information on this volume, call (617) 639-1958. For information on seminars, contact (in the United States and Canada) Technology Transfer In: stitute, 741 101h St., Santa Monica, Gali f. 90402 (213) 394-8305. m Eu- rope, contact Savant, 2 New St., Carnjorth, Lancs, LA5 9BX United Kingdom (0524) 734 505.